Chiang Mai Industry has signed a cooperation contract
with Suesakol Company and the Sport Authority of Thailand Region 5, to
organize the Northern Motor Expo to be held February 11-19, 2006 at Chiang
Mai 700 Year Anniversary Stadium.

Yuttapong Jiraprapapong, president of Chiang Mai
Industry, said that the expo was to show the advances in auto technology to
Chiang Mai and northern region residents and to offer an opportunity for car
makers to gauge the local market requirements. Kwanchai Papatpong, chairman
of the board of Suesakol Company which has arranged Thai motor fairs for 20
years said that Chiang Mai was the first province selected to organize the
regional motor show because it was the center of the northern region.

“There are 100,000 persons expected to attend the expo
within 10 days. Increased fuel oil prices and a decelerating economy
probably will not affect the activity because it will be organized next year
and citizens may have adjusted to the price of petrol by then,” Kwanchai
said.

The highlight of the expo will be solar powered cars and
hydrogen vehicles and new vehicles with the latest auto technology.

For those who cannot get down to the 27th Bangkok International Motor
Show, this offers a smaller, but local, alternative.

Govt to build database for e-auction transparency

The Department of Comptroller General is gathering a
profile of companies that take part in bidding for procurement for
government agencies and state enterprises under the electronic-auction
system.

The Comptroller-General Boonsak Jiampreecha said the
operation is to ensure that e-auction procurement is transparent, and that
no companies collude with each other in bidding for projects. The database
of company profiles will also make it easy for the authorities to penalize
offenders if they are found to conspire in the bidding process.

The department will focus on data of companies that
frequently win bids and it will check for any irregularities.

This exercise will bring transparency to the e-auction
system, which in itself helps the state save money while putting procurement
in a systematic manner, he said. (TNA)

Labor Ministry concludes new minimum wage rates

The Ministry of Labor has concluded new minimum wage
rates for Bangkok and other industry-based provinces across the country,
with the increase ranging from Bt2-8 a day.

The conclusion was reached at a meeting of the central
committee on minimum wage rates, held at the Ministry of Labor on July 18.

The committee decided to increase the minimum wage in
Thailand’s upper southern province of Prachuap Khiri Khan by Bt8 a day,
the highest, followed by Bt6 a day in Bangkok and 15 other provinces,
including Nonthaburi, Samut Prakan, Samut Sakhon, Chacherngsao, Saraburi,
Nakhon Pathom, Pathum Thani, Ayutthaya, Nakhon Ratchasima, Kanchanaburi,
Chonburi, Rayong, Trat, Lopburi and Ranong.

The committee also approved a pay rise of Bt4 a day for
the country’s northern provinces of Chiang Mai and Lamphun, and Bt2 a day,
the lowest, for the northeastern province of Ummajjaroen. However, no pay
rise was approved in the country’s southernmost province of Narathiwat.

The committee said that the conclusion mostly followed
the proposed wage increases submitted by the sub-committees on minimum wages
in the separate areas.

The new minimum wage rates will be effective August 1.

Meanwhile, more than 1,000 workers from local labor
networks, under the name of the Committee on the Reconciliation of Thai
Labors, gathered at Government House on July 18, demanding an increase in
the minimum wage to Bt233 a day across the country. The workers also
demanded that the government announce a new pay rise structure for employees
of all sectors across the nation by October 1 and implement measures to
strictly curb the prices of consumers’ products, as well as scrap its plan
to assign the National Health Insurance Institute to solely manage the
country’s medical welfare systems for employees. (TNA)